Main:Diana Bulimar
Timişoara, Timiş County, Banat, Romania |Row 4 title = Years on National Team |Row 4 info = 2008-present |Row 5 title = Club |Row 5 info = CSS Dinamo Bucharest |Row 6 title = Coach(es) |Row 6 info = Octavian Bellu, Mariana Bitang, Lucian Sandu, Mircea Vintila, Raluca Bugner Cristian Moldovan, Lacramioara Moldovan (former) |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Retired}} Diana Bulimar (born August 22, 1995, in Timişoara, Romania) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is the 2013 European balance beam silver medalist and floor bronze medalist. She is also two time (2012 and 2014) European gold medalist with the team and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist with the team. Since 2011, an element on the floor exercise is named after her. The "Bulimar" is a Johnson leap (switch leap with 1/4 turn to side position) with additional 1/1 turn. Early Life and Career Bulimar was one of the most successful junior gymnasts of the 2008-2010 Romanian national junior team. During the junior years her highest achievements were the silver medal with the team and the bronze medal on uneven bars at the 2010 European Junior Championships and the silver medal on floor at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. She also placed fourth all around and on floor at the 2010 European Championships. Senior Career 2011 Her first senior year was overshadowed by a foot injury that kept her out of the gym for several months. Thus, her debut at a senior competition was postponed for August 2011 at the Romanian National Championships. Here she won bronze on floor and placed fourth all around. After a good showing at two friendly meets in Germany and Great Britain she was selected in the team for the 2011 World Championships. Here, she helped her team place four in the team finals. Individually, she qualified in the eight place in the floor final. Unfortunately, a foot injury prevented her to compete in the finals. She was substituted in the floor finals by teammate Diana Chelaru who placed eight. 2012 After a successful spring season with good performances at international world cups and friendly meets, she was selected in the team for the 2012 European Championships in Brussels. Here she contributed to the team qualification and team gold medal on three events, floor, balance beam, and uneven bars. Although in the qualifications she placed fourth on beam and sixth on floor, she did not advanced in the event finals due to the higher scores of teammates Catalina Ponor and Larisa Iordache on these events. Her score on floor in the team finals (14.633) would have been enough for the silver medal in the floor final. On July 7th, Bulimar was named to the Romanian team for the Olympic Games. During qualifications, Bulimar only competed bars and beam. She qualified eighth to the balance beam final. During the team final, Bulimar competed on bars, beam, and floor. Her performances helped Romania win the bronze medal behind the United States and Russia. Before the balance beam event final, Bulimar was pulled out and replaced with teammate Larisa Iordache. 2013 In January, Bulimar was announced as part of the lineup for the La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup. At the World Cup in March, Bulimar won silver on floor exercise. She also won gold on floor exercise at the Doha World Cup. At the end of March, she was named to the Romanian team for the European Championships. Bulimar qualified second into the all-around and placed fourth in the final. She originally tied for fourth with Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber until a tie breaker was induced and the fourth place finish was awarded to Bulimar. She later won silver on beam behind compatriot Larisa Iordache and bronze on floor exercise. In June, Bulimar competed at the Anadia World Cup in Portugal, winning bronze on balance beam and gold on floor exercise (tied with her teammate Iordache). In September, she won the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise, and a bronze on uneven bars at the Turnen Dames Interland. She was set to compete at the Romanian Nationals in September, but withdrew with a knee injury that required surgery. The injury put Bulimar out of Worlds contention. 2014 Bulimar's first competition back from her injury was the Doha World Cup, where she won silver on floor and placed fourth on balance beam. She went on to compete at a friendly meet against gymnasts from Belgium and France, winning team gold and all-around silver. She was selected to the Romanian team for the European Championships in May. She contributed to her team's gold medal finish and, individually, placed fifth on floor exercise. However, she re-injured her knee over the summer, taking her once again out of the Romanian Nationals and World Championships.injured knee again 2015 Bulimar returned to competition at the Doha World Cup, winning uneven bars silver and balance beam bronze. She struggled a little at the European Championships, still performing watered down routines, and only qualified to the all-around, where she placed tenth. She was set to compete at a friendly meet against gymnasts from Russia, Italy, and Colombia in late March, but withdrew at the last minute due to an issue with her knee.knee issue, ITA-RUS-ROU-COL withdrawal She recovered in time to compete at a friendly meet against gymnasts from France in September, winning team gold and placing fourth on beam, fifth on floor, eighth in the all-around, tenth on vault, and eleventh on bars. The following month, she competed at the Novara Cup in Italy, earning the third-highest score on balance beam and winning team gold. Bulimar was named to the Romanian team for the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, but Romania had many struggles. After leaving Catalina Ponor behind in Romania and losing Ana Maria Ocolisan to an injury, the team competed with only five gymnasts. They competed in the first subdivision of qualifications, but a large amount of falls caused Romania to finish qualifications in fourteenth place, missing the team final for the first time in almost fifty years. She performed better after the World Championships, winning all-around bronze at the Gander Memorial in Switzerland. 2016 Bulimar started off the season at the Doha World Cup. She won silver on floor exercise, but finished eighth on uneven bars after a fall. In early April, she competed at a friendly meet against gymnasts from Belgium and Germany, winning team silver and all-around bronze. She was named to the Romanian team for the Test Event in Brazil. Unfortunately, Romania didn't fare any better than they did at the World Championships. Competing in the first subdivision, falls and low scores landed them in seventh place, meaning they would not qualify a full team to the Olympics. She suffered a torn Achilles tendon in training in May, leaving her out of contention for the European Championships and Olympic Games.torn Achilles tendon Bulimar quietly retired after the 2016 Olympics.retirement Medal Count Floor Music 2011-2013 - "Areg" by Samvel Yervinyan 2013-2014 - "Butterfly Dance" by HANA 2015 - "Sunrise" by Extasy Project 2016 - "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake (as covered by David Garrett) References